Alone in a Crowd
by perpetually lost
Summary: No one wants to be alone for christmas... WarrenMagenta RR plz
1. New Employees & Realizations

"Guess who," demanded a friendly voice as hands covered Warren's eyes.

Warren turned from the soapy dishes in front of him at the cheery utterance, "What?" he asked tiredly. His shift had just begun but he was already exhausted. The holidays were always busy at the paper lantern so it was going to be a long night.

Behind him stood a young Chinese girl in the tuxedo like uniform of the Paper Lantern waiters. She looked familiar but it took Warren a minute before it clicked. "Magenta?!" he said somewhat incredulously, barely recognizing her without her Goth get up. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here. Surprise," Magenta replied with a smirk and a shrug.

"Oh, since when?" he asked momentarily confused.

"Since my aunt needed a little help over the holidays."

"Your aunt? Who's your aunt?"

"The owner. Which you'd know if you ever paid any attention, but yeah, she talked to my mom and my mom volunteered me, anyway I'm going to be waiting here till January."

As she said that the owner of the Paper lantern walked over. Mrs. Chen was a plump but imperious little woman who ruled her domain with an iron fist. "Ahh Warren, you met my niece. I believe she goes to school with you," she said speaking in Chinese. As she looked at Magenta, Magenta's expression turned decidedly meek.

Warren had known that the Chen's had connections with the super community, that's how he got the job. His mother had known Mrs. Chen. When Warren was 13 his mother had gotten sick. Since she couldn't work Warren had needed a job to help with money. At 13 not a lot of places would hire him but since she knew his mother Mrs. Chen had given him a chance. Warren's mother had even approved because she knew the Chens would be willing to over look it if Warren's control over his power slipped. The situation had suited and Warren had stayed on, he'd even learned Chinese. Mrs. Chen had mentioned that she had a niece attending Sky High with Warren but he never connected the plump and imperious Mrs. Chen with sarcastic Magenta Ma. Now that he though about it, it made sense. Magenta had even said that her aunt owned a restaurant.

While he contemplated this Mrs. Chen turned to a noticeably subdued and submissive Magenta. "Now, Magenta, come with me. I'll show you what you are to do." Mrs. Chen continued bossily, still speaking in Chinese.

"Yes, Aunt Chen," Magenta said respectfully in Chinese but she rolled her eyes as she turned to follow her aunt.

Several hours and what felt like several thousand dishes later Warren was relieved to be sent on a break. Warren had had a hard day in school. Today they had played Save the Citizen in PE and early on he and Will had been called in. Once in the game you played until you were defeated so he and Will had played all period. Despite being nearly indestructible and good with his powers, it's not easy to keep fighting for an hour with only short breaks. After school Warren had gone straight home and done his homework knowing he probably wouldn't have time after work. So by nine when the dinner rush was slowing he was more then ready to fall asleep on his feet.

After grabbing some lo mien Warren headed to the break room. He'd been eating for a minute when a familiar figure walked in and settled next to him.

"Man, I never knew how hard waiting tables was!" Declared a tired looking Magenta, "Waitresses deserve ever tip they get, what with all they crap they take from the customers!"

"Huh, that's why I bus table and wash dishes… After I cursed out a couple for being rude your aunt declared me unfit for waiting."

"Wow… I'm surprised she didn't fire you on the spot, my aunt must really like you."

"I'm sure she would have if they hadn't been so damn nasty, believe me they deserved a whole lot more then getting cursed at," Warren replied grinning first sheepishly then with a little bit of menace.

Magenta grinned back as she pictured a couple bad enough to spare Warren her aunt's formidable wrath. "So how long have you worked here? And is it always this busy?"

At Magenta's question Warren let out a sigh, "Its worse on Fridays and Saturdays but this time of year is always super busy. It won't start to get normal again till after Chinese new years so don't get your hopes up. Any way, yeah, I've worked here since I was 13 that's… lets see 3 years."

"Wow that's a long time. You spoke Chinese to the other employees before… did you know it before or did you learn while working here?"

"Well at first I had a hard time because most of the other workers speak primarily Chinese and only a little English. After a while I started to pick up a bit, but it was your aunt who really helped me. I guess she noticed that I was trying to learn so one day she when I came in she called me into her office and gave me a couple books: 'Mandarin Chinese for Beginners' and an English/Chinese dictionary. She never said anything about it just gave me the books and sent me back to work. I thought it was pretty cool and you know me with a book. Once I got started I never stopped. I'm practically fluent now."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive, Chinese is usually really hard for non-native speakers to learn. My parents are both Chinese and they speak mostly Chinese around the house so I've always been bilingual, but its cool to finally meet some one, other then my cousins, whos my age and actually speaks Chinese," replied Magenta this time in Chinese with another smile.

"I'm impressed Maj, there's actually a story behind that sarcastic Goth exterior. I never even knew that you were Chinese... I kind of thought you were Korean."

"Korean, please!" Maj joined in on the weak joke.

Warren felt bad. He really didn't know that much about Magenta. Since Layla had befriended him he'd gotten a lot more social but he'd never taken the time to get to know his new friends other then Will and Layla. He had sort of taken them at face value, now he was thinking that maybe they could have a lot more to offer if he just took some time to get to know them.

Warren turned to Magenta again this time his eyes thought full, "Hey, I'm glad we're actually talking. I guess I never really took the time to get to know you."

Magenta smiled mockingly, "Oh god, really… oh Warren, thank you so much for bestowing the great gift of your attention on me!!" She declared in a dramatic tone clutching her hands over her heart.

"Seriously Maj, I mean it," Warren said insistently a little hurt by her sarcastic rebuff.

Seeing that Warren was really serious Magenta backed down a bit, "Sorry, its just you're supposed to be our friend but you never have any time for anybody but Will and Layla."

"I know and I'm sorry," Warren said, looking down. "I'm just new to this friend thing and I really don't know how to act half the time."

"Yeah you kinda suck," Magenta said this time grinning. "I kidding Warren, its really not that big a deal and I know that you're just awkward with people. Ethan and Zack probably didn't even notice," she said trying to make him feel a little better.

"Thanks Maj, so umm tell me about your self," he said looking intently at her.

Magenta started cracking up at this, "Hmmmm lets see, I write poetry, I read, I do martial arts, I love animals, I don't know… I like lots of stuff."

"Wow, next thing I know you'll be telling me you're going to try out for the cheerleading squad…"

"Well now that Penny's in jail…" Magenta joked back in a fakely peppy voice and with just a hint of whine, "Do you think I'd make squad captain?!"

"Oh god I can see it now: black pompoms!" Warren said laughing so hard he almost choked on his noodles.

"Hey, tomorrow we should just start speaking Chinese around the guys, it'd tick Zach off for sure."

"Yeah but then Ethan'll be on us to teach him. You know how he gets when there's something he doesn't know," countered Warren grinning at the idea nonetheless. "So do you have any other little tidbits you'd like to share, other then that you wanna be a cheerleader? I could help you practice if you want, that's what friends are for isn't it?"

"Just for clarification, I do not want to be a cheerleader. That was sarcasm. And well, if you wanna learn my secrets you'll just have to pay better attention or keep wondering… they are after all, secrets," she said with a wink as she got up with her now empty plate and headed back into the kitchen.

Warren grinned after her and caught himself staring at her slightly swaying rear as she sauntered out of the small room. Shaking his head Warren mused that it was going to be an interesting couple of weeks if working with Magenta. He had had a little too much fun chatting with the pretty Asian, but over all he was glad he was actually getting to know her.


	2. Contemplations & Arguments

Warren groaned as he rolled out of bed, he was most definitely not ready to get up. Fumbling and still mostly asleep he made his to the bathroom and took a shower. Feeling slightly more human he then headed back to his room to get dressed. Looking into his dresser Warren smirked. 'What should I wear today?' he thought, 'Black, or how bout maybe black for a change' jokingly to himself. Being sleep deprived does that to a person. Warren had worked till 11:30 at the Paper Lantern last night and hadn't gotten to sleep till almost one in the morning. Still half asleep he pulled on red plaid boxers and a pair of dark blue jeans with rips at the knees. Then he grabbed a wife beater and pulled it on, this was followed by a black long sleeved thermal shirt and a red T-shirt with a black skull and crossbones on it. Dressed he made his way to the kitchen. He turned the coffee machine on and poured a bowl of cereal while it percolated. After fixing his coffee and eating his cereal Warren pulled his current novel out of his book bag and began reading. As he read he watched the clock and at about quarter to seven Warren headed out to the bus stop. Still reading he waited the minute or so till the bus arrived and got on, never once acknowledging the presence of the other students who got on the bus at his stop.

Once in his seat in the back of the bus Warren took out his MP3 player. As he sat back in his seat to continue reading his book he paused, and smiled. The first song to play on his MP3 player was one off a CD that Magenta had lent him last night. It was a good song but it made him think about the Goth chick and their conversation last night. Warren liked Magenta. She was funny and sarcastic and maybe they had more in common then he had guessed. After Layla had broken the ice, Zack, Ethan, and Magenta had taken to him pretty quickly and had started hanging around him all the time. Most people were willing to give in to him because of his reputation, they weren't. They had crowed him every chance, talking and pestering, but eventually he had realized it wasn't so bad. He like that people liked him and he even found them pretty funny. When he had first met Magenta she'd gotten on his nerves just like the others. Magenta in particular had stood her ground ignoring the fact that he was any different from the rest of them. While Zack and Ethan were busy copying him or sucking up to him they'd back off his he was nasty. Magenta was always ready with a comeback or biting comment that had made him stop and think before he blew up.

Layla was the first to truly break through his barriers. She had needed his help and he couldn't resist someone in need. Even after the dance and after Layla had gotten Will she kept coming to him for someone to talk to. They had a lot in common; they both advocated environmental causes and hated how fake high schoolers were.

Will had eventually gotten to him too, but it had been a whole different struggle. Warren had hated Will at first sight. Will had symbolized a lot of things that Warren had wanted but couldn't get. Will was popular and even though he had no powers he had friends, but mostly Will had a loving family. Warren's family was to say the least, broken. Warren had assumed that Will had friends because of who his parents were and that made Warren both jealous and angry. He never noticed that Will's shone with sincerity every time he talked and with or without powers he walk kind and honest to everyone. The subject of Warren's father was still pretty touchy, and entirely love hate, but he had never really blamed it on Will or even Will's parents. He had been in a particularly bad mood that day in the cafeteria; Will dumping his lunch had just been the icing on the cake. He'd just flipped. Even while he was attacking Will he'd known he was wrong and that he was being irrational, but Warren had so much anger and resentment built up inside he had needed to release it. Looking back Warren still felt a little ashamed. He had reacted poorly but at the same time he knew he hadn't even really tried to hurt Will. Warren could have incinerated Will in a second but instead he'd bullied Will and scared him, not that much better but still at least no one had been seriously hurt. After that he'd pretty much avoided the subject of Will Stonghold all together, at least until that night in the Paper Lantern. When Layla had look at him all beseeching and asked him to sit he'd felt bad so he had. Then he listened, really listened to her stories about will. In each and every one the Will Stronghold described was someone Warren wished he knew. The more he heard the worse he felt about the situation, not that he was ready to admit it to anyone. After the Royal Pain event he'd finally worked up the resolve and apologized to Will. Will of course true to character had accepted his apology completely and even went on to compliment Warren's control during the fight. That started a conversation about supers who weren't careful about civilians. They had talked until Layla had pointedly interrupted them by asking Will to dance. After that Warren and Will had been friends. They had even more in common then him and Layla, and Will was a good friend.

After the dance of course Warren had gotten suddenly popular. He'd had no shortage of pretty girls flinging themselves at him and guys trying to hangout with him because of his new status. Warren was too shy to really do anything about this though. He mostly brushed off the 'groupies' as Magenta had titled them one day at lunch. In the nearly two months he'd mostly hung out with Will or Layla or the whole gang but mostly he was still to busy working to have much free time.

Busy in his thoughts Warren barely noticed when his bus arrived at Sky High. Embarking from his bus he headed towards the steps where the whole 'gang' was waiting for him. Walking over he waved at them and almost grimaced trying to get Magentas very nice rear out of his head as she turned and waved back. The group chorused their "good mornings" and the conversation his arrival had interrupted picked back up.

It was a pretty normal conversation as their conversations go, Zack and Magenta fighting and Layla trying to patch it back up. Although Zack and Magenta had been dating since the Home Coming dance there relationship wasn't quite Will's and Layla's. They fought a lot. When they weren't fighting they were either acting like the friends they had been before they started dating or making out, there was very little in-between. In Warren's opinion they'd be better off calling it quits, but he knew they would be to stubborn to listen to him if he just said as much. Warren almost ground his teeth in frustration listening to them. He might not be entire sure what to do in a friendship but he knew that their relationship was ruining what that had once had.

"I don't like clubbing, I don't get why you're so pissed. You know I hate it, so just go without me!"

"Magenta, you never have time for me!! You never want to do anything fun! God you're so f$#ing boring sometimes!! But maybe, maybe I just wanted to do something with my Girl Friend for once!!!!"

"Zack I'm sorry I have homework to do, maybe if you actually did yours once in a while you'd be passing and I'm sorry that I have chores I have to do, some peoples family's don't have the money to hire maids!!"

"I am too passing!"

"God you're so whiny and spoiled sometimes!"

"Guys, guys, calm down…" Layla tried to little avail.

"What you're calling me whiny!! 'Oh my dark bleak soul…. I have no purpose,'" Zack quoted in a melodramatic voice rolling his eyes. "I'm whiny?! At least I don't write crappy poetry about dieing!!"

"That's private you ass! And it wasn't about dieing or anything like that which you'd know if you EVER actually listened to me!" Magenta retorted now a little flushed in anger, "And don't even talk about my poetry, you're to stupid to get it anyway. You're too stupid to even pass school! Some times you're just f$#ing STUPID!"

"Magenta please, and Zack come on… Stop," pleaded Layla. Will and Ethan watched clearly uncomfortable and not sure what to say or do.

Warren sighed, this was practically a weekly ritual, but this fight was a lot worse then their usual bickering. The whole group was still standing right in front of the school and as the argument escalated from spoken to shouted, the crowd that had gathered to watch grew. Since the Royal Pain incident their click had gotten pretty popular. Everyone in the school knew who they were and Warren wasn't the only one to have 'groupies'. By lunch Warren was pretty sure everyone would have heard about this fight.

Zack and Magenta were beyond caring about an audience at this point. They were both shouting and gesturing and Magenta's last comment seemed to have really done it for Zack.

"I do not call me _stupid_," Zack whispered fiercely white with rage.

Magenta even had the sense to look a little shamed. She knew that that was Zack's sore spot. Zack's father was hard to please and he rode Zack a lot about his grades. When Zack did poorly, which was often, his father would rage and call him and idiot, loser and, yes, stupid. Magenta knew she had gone too far and tried to apologize, "I'm sorry… I… I didn't really mean it..." but Zack was too angry to be appeased.

Zack might be slow to anger but once angry he stayed angry. "You're 'sorry'! You 'didn't mean it'! I think you did mean it, you think you're better then me. You think you're so _f$#ing_ superior, don't you!! Too _f$#ing_ good to hang out with me! Well maybe you're too f$#ing good to date me!!!" Zack shouted with finality, glowing despite it being light out. Turning to the rest of the group as they stared nearly open mouthed at the brightly shining boy, Zack said simply, "I'm out," before storming into the school.


End file.
